445. _of bisyde_, &c., from (a place) near Bath, i. e. from a place in its
suburbs; for elsewhere she is simply called the Wyf of Bathe.
446. 'But she was somewhat deaf, and that was her misfortune.' We should
now say--'and it was a pity.'
447. _clooth-making._ 'The West of England, and especially the
neighbourhood of Bath, from which the "good wif" came, was celebrated, till
a comparatively recent period, as the district of cloth-making. Ypres and
Ghent were the great clothing-marts on the Continent.'--Wright. 'Edward the
third brought clothing first into this Island, transporting some families
of artificers from _Gaunt_ hither.'--Burton's Anat. of Mel. p. 51. 'Cloth
of Gaunt' is mentioned in the Romaunt of the Rose, l. 574 (vol. i. p. 117).
_haunt_, use, practice; i. e. she was so well skilled (in it).